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First Law
Passed on 9 Win'yet, LY 905, First Law states that the court system first established in 899 would retain its legal authority within the Second Order, officially becoming a part of the judicial system of the new government, subject to the High Court; and that all laws passed by that court system between 899 and 8 Win'yet, 905 would be recognized by the government. History The first official Election Day, upon establishment of the Second Order, was of course on 8 Su'yet, 904. From that point on, that date would be the day each year when all adult citizens would vote on certain propositions for potential ordinances, as well as electing government officials. Most laws would of course be passed by the government itself, once it was established. However, before there was a government or any elected officials, laws in each individual village of The Land had always been voted upon by anyone over the age of 13 who was interested in voting on a given issue. This meant that at the time the Second Order was established, the world was already full of laws, which might not be the same from village to village. But in LY 899, the rise in intervillage gang activities led to the integration of all villages' police departments, via the new organization known as InterVil. Naturally, this required consistency of laws between all villages. Until this time, there had been no organized court system, per se, though criminal suspects had always been defended (and prosecuted) by lawyers, in trials not unlike those which exist today. However, there had been no official guidelines by which lawyers had to abide, nor were there judges. The prosecutor and defender would merely argue their cases to the best of their ability, and guilt or innocence would be decided by a jury. The estalishment of InterVil led not only to interaction between various villages' police, however, but also of lawyers. And so, a court system was slowly established, beginning that year (which also included the introduction of judges as mediators in trials, as well as standardized regulations for conducting trails). This system would be completed in 905, with the establishment of the High Court. Meanwhile, it was realized that all this integration would mean people would have to review every village's laws, and decide which to keep on a worldwide scale, and which to repeal. At first, it was assumed that it would not be the business of the courts to enact laws, merely to enforce them. But it was clearly impractical for the general public to review and vote on all those laws themselves, so a vote was held on 8 Su'yet to give power to the courts to rewrite the laws, subject to appeal by popular vote, if there were any objections to any specific laws. (At this time, of course, the full scope of The Plan was as yet unknown to the general public, as well as to most lawyers and judges within the new court system; but this transfer of power from the people to a specific agency was an important step in the Coming of the Order. It set the stage for people to grasp the value of government, when the concept was first suggested in 902.) This transfer of power, however, was not the only law voted on that year by the public. There were a few others, most notably the adult license law, which, like the court system, had been suggested by The First Order. This would have many important applications in the years to come, including, for the first time in the Land's history, an official method of determining eligibility to vote, beyond mere age. This law was another important step in the Coming of the Order, for the effect it would eventually have on the first elections, in 904. Over the years between 899 and 904, many laws would be enacted by the courts, most of which were basically in keeping with the various laws which had already existed for many years in individual villages. However, once it became known in 902 that there was a possibility of the establishment of a world government, the question arose as to what would happen to this system of laws that had been passed in the last few years. It was at this point that a potential law was drafted by the courts, which was signed in 903 by all candidates in the impending elections. The law, known as "The First Law," stated that the existing court system would retain its legal authority should any world government be established, and the laws that had been passed since 899 would be recognized by all branches of government, and that the court system would itself become a branch of that government. The fact that all candidates were willing to sign this law was a large factor in swaying public opinion in favor of government, and supporting the Order during the war. These signatures did not have any official power to enact the law, of course, but represented a promise, which was upheld in 905 when the High Court officially passed the First Law, by unanimous vote of its members. (There are those, of course, who consider it ironic or at least inaccurate to call it "the First Law," even though it was the first law passed by the new government, considering it was not even close to the first law passed by the courts, nor even the first law passed upon the establishment of the Second Order, as several laws were voted into effect in 904 by the public.) See also *Final Law *List of laws Category:Culture